(NaturalNews) Food prices continue to inflate, and the average minimum wage job can barely keep up with the cost of living, but not all low-income families who qualify for food stamps sign up to receive them. Instead, they find other ways to feed themselves, prioritizing, budgeting and separating their wants from their needs. These self-reliant ones know where they need to cut back in their budget when food is most important. They find extra work. They cut out bad habits. It is their pride that keeps them from submitting to food stamp handouts and an entitlement mindset. They see through the trap of relying on government. They don't want to go in the direction of dependence on a system. Instead, they strive toward earning, creating, attracting or manifesting their own future, a future flowing with personal abundance that can be shared with others.

Overcoming the dependence and victim mindset to thrive

Taking is not in their name. Working hard and serving others is. If more people stood up and became self-reliant and masters of their own destiny, then there would be more success stories, less addiction and more abundant giving coming from people who used to be classified as poor. With less taking and dependence and with more liberty and giving, there would be more natural wealth distribution and multiplication. By erasing the entitlement mindset and creating drive within, there would be a much less of a vacuum to be filled with government handouts and dependence and more inspiration to do, become, and give.

Sadly, it's so easy today to fall into a pattern of dependence by taking handouts from a system that disempowers and makes one feel that they need, need, need. The pattern of thinking infects the mind and sucks one into a future of dependence, not liberation. Anything is possible when you believe in yourself to achieve and make ends meet. Cutting out bad habits and setting new goals can make an extraordinary difference in one's life.

Dark side of food stamp system comes alive

What's even darker about the food stamp system is that it's being used as a tool to pay for other things besides food. In fact, food stamps can be sold at less than full face value so that the "hungry" can get cash to pay for other things they also don't need. Some of the things they sell their food stamps for often fuel their most self-destructive bad habits and drug addictions (the very problem they could have cut out in the first place if they were prompted to prioritize and pay for their own food).

What's most sad today is that food stamp recipients are using taxpayer-funded handouts to pay their drug dealers.

Could drug addiction be fueled by a food stamp system that encourages people to remain poor, self-destructive and addicted to the cycle?

An investigation led by Ohio Investigative Unit agent Eric Wolf found that food stamp recipients are giving their drug dealers permission to use their cards and pin numbers while getting drugs in return. Just the same, some food stamp recipients will give up their card and pin in exchange for half of its value in cash; the cash is then used to buy drugs. Food stamp fraud is a felony offense, but more people care less today than ever. In fact, in just five years, the food stamp program stripped 142 Ohio stores of their privilege to take food stamps because of rampant and growing fraud.

"Some drug dealers are like a pawn shop. They'll take almost anything for drugs," said Mansfield police Chief Ken Coontz, who oversees nine counties north of Columbus, Ohio. Ohio does not require drug testing for food stamp recipients. Recipients do not have to give identification to use their card, and they can even legally give someone else permission to use the card. Cards can also be replaced for free. In fact, auditor Dave Yost found out that, between 2006 and 2011, 17,000 people in the state of Ohio alone were issued ten or more replacement cards. The system is hard to monitor, especially when 1.73 million people receive food stamps in Ohio alone.

How can more integrity be integrated into the system? How can we encourage one another to strive for more than a scheming, entitlement mindset?

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